Monday, July 9, 2007

Cape Point...and Beyond

After the Boulders and lunch in Simon’s Town, we drove back down the coast to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. This is not where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean, nor is it the farthest point south, which is further west at Cape Agulhas, but it is the meeting point of two major ocean currents—the cold Benguela current on the west coast and the warm Agulhas current on the east coast—and it’s still freaking beautiful.

We hiked up here, stopping for many pictures along the way.

We were much closer to the South Pole than New York.

Isn’t this what digital cameras are for, so you never have pictures with your eyes closed anymore? Anyway, it was windy up there—it’s winter in South Africa—and I literally had on all the warm clothes in my Kampala wardrobe. When I was in the States in May I left all sorts of sweaters and jackets behind, which I had originally brought to Uganda, because I figured, it’s never ever cold in Kampala. Pretty stupid.

Upon returning to the hotel, I headed straight for the Cavendish Mall, about a five minute walk away. I was so excited to be in a proper city again—the mall had Nine West and Swatch and Billabong! Places I actually recognized. I ended up buying books at a book sale because I have an illness that prevents me from walking by a bookstore and not buying anything.

JL and I had dinner on our own later that night at a restaurant called Beluga that J had recommended to me. Talk about being in a proper city again. The food was delicious—we had ostrich carpaccio and springbok. The wine, which was of course South African, was also amazing and mostly free since the bartender forgot about us and felt he had to make it up to us. The restaurant was housed in an old warehouse not far from the waterfront and its brick walls and open spaces reminded me of Four Street in Portland, i.e. it reminded me of home.